New Delhi: A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released list of 189 candidates for upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, former CM and six-time MLA Jagadish Shettar said that he will travel to Delhi on Wednesday to meet party president JP Nadda after his name is not there in BJP's first list. The BJP on Tuesday announced candidates for 189 constituencies out of the total 224 and the list includes 52 new faces. "I will reach Delhi today to meet the party's national president JP Nadda. I expect positive things will happen. In the coming days, the party high command and state leaders will specify everything," news agency ANI quoted Shettar as saying. At least eight legislators including Minister Angara, representing Sulia, have been denied the ticket.
Karnataka | I will reach Delhi today to meet the party's national president JP Nadda. I expect positive things will happen. In the coming days, the party high command and state leaders will specify everything: Former Karnataka CM & six-time MLA, Jagadish Shettar
Shettar's name… pic.twitter.com/zEOluTfQLT
— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2023
Most of the MLAs who defected and joined BJP, there by helping it to come to power, and also succeeded winning the subsequent bypolls on a BJP ticket, have retained their seats. The party has not announced tickets yet to Shivamogga and Hubballi-Dharwad Central, the seats represented by senior leaders K S Eshwarappa and Jagadish Shettar.
Former deputy Chief Minister Eshwarappa had on Tuesday told the party's central leadership that he wishes to retire from electoral politics and requested it to not consider fielding him in the Assembly polls, while former chief minister Shettar said the party top brass told him to make way for others, but asserted he wants to contest one last time.
Minister Angara is among those who have not got the ticket, while most of his cabinet colleagues have got the nod. Seven other sitting MLAs who have not been fielded again are-- Lalaji R Mendon (Kapu), Raghupathi Bhat (Udupi), Anil S Benake (Belagavi North), Sanjeev Matandur (Putturu), Mahadevappa Shivalingappa Yadawad MLA (Ramadurg), Ramanna Lamani (Shirahatti), and Goolihatti D Shekhar (Hosadurga).
The party is yet to announce its candidates for 35 seats. The filing of nominations will begin on April 13, with the poll notification being issued, and the last day for filing papers is April 20. The BJP, aiming to return to power in Karnataka with absolute majority, has set a target of winning at least 150 of the total 224 seats in the Assembly.
Announcing the names at a press conference in New Delhi, BJP's Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh said 32 of the candidates belong to OBCs, 30 Scheduled Castes and 16 Scheduled Tribes. The first list has nine doctors, five advocates, three academics, one retired IAS officer, one retired IPS officer, three retired government employees and eight social activists, he said.
According to party sources, among the candidates 51 are Lingayats and 41 are Vokkaligas, the two dominant communities in the State.
